MPs and Europe: Enthusiasm, circumspection or outright scepticism?

Contemporary Euroscepticism in the party systems of the European Union candidate states of Central and Eastern Europe

“…And we need to be aware that this tendency is heightened when the issue may be a second‐order issue as Europe often is. The second way is to examine the distribution of opinion on European integration among party elites (usually parliamentarians) using surveys (see Rattinger 1994; Alexandre & Jardin 1996; Baker et al 1999; Baker & Seawright 2000; Schmitt & Thomassen 1999). This is very useful in tracing factional conflict and in explaining back‐bench dissent, but once again it is not necessarily an accurate guide to the party's overall position in relation to European integration.…”

Political Participation: The Vocational Motivations of Labour Party Employees

“…Indeed, this proportion is notably high. While 76 per cent of party members feel that they can have a real influence on politics, 11 the likelihood is that for employees-especially at the centre-this sense of personal efficacy is more likely to be satisfied. Thus, while the sense of efficacy among members is (pleasingly) high, it should…”

“…Thus for example, Patrick Seyd and Paul Whiteley have made path‐breaking studies of party members (Seyd and Whiteley 1992; Whiteley et al. 1994); David Denver and Gordon Hands (1997) have made a significant contribution to our knowledge as to how parties organise constituency campaigns; Pippa Norris and Joni Lovenduski (1995) have analysed the attitudes of members of parliament and candidates, whilst David Baker et al. (1999) have focused on the attitudes of members of parliament towards Europe.…”

Where has all the trouble gone? British intra-party parliamentary divisions during the Lisbon ratification

“…Had the Blair Government attempted to join the Euro -especially had they done so without a referendumwe might have expected to see a higher level of Labour dissent on this issue. But it was also evident of the changing nature of the PLP, which was becoming increasingly pro-European over recent elections (Baker et al, 1999).…”

“…Quietly, the pro-European influence inside the Party started to dwindle. Two-thirds of Conservative MPs responding to a 1998 survey believed that joining the single currency would 'signal the end of the UK as a sovereign nation' and 80 per cent favoured an Act of Parliament to establish the ultimate supremacy of Parliament (Baker et al, 1999).…”